Taking a look at this week’s news and headlines from Apple, including new iPhone 16 features, iPhone 16 design reveals, a long wait for the M4 MacBook, the arrival of the Mac mirror iPhone, iPad sales success pro, App Store EU challenges and AAA bomb iPhone games.
The Apple Loop is here to remind you of some of the many discussions surrounding Apple in the past seven days. You can also read my weekly roundup of Android news here on Forbes.
A participant takes a selfie with Apple CEO Tim Cook (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Apple confirms new iPhone features
In a white paper published this week, Apple has discussed several new approaches to promote device repairability and increase battery life. The True Tone and Battery Meter features will now be accessible from third-party parts installed on an iPhone and will be part of the iOS 18 update:
“Currently, battery health metrics such as peak capacity and cycle count are not presented to consumers whose devices have third-party batteries. This is because the accuracy of these metrics cannot be verified by Apple… In an effort to improved support for third-party batteries, starting later in 2024, Apple will display battery health measurements with a notice saying that Apple cannot verify the information presented.”
(MacRumors).
New iPhone, new cases, new data
Thanks to a leak of the latest iPhone 16 cases, we have confirmation of the three main features Apple is bringing to the base iPhone in 2024. Two new buttons are being added—the action button and the camera button—but changes to the camera for supported Apple’s gee-whizz AR headset shows the interaction that Apple has fostered:
“These have changed from the iPhone 15’s diagonal arrangement of a square camera island to a vertical arrangement of a more tablet-shaped island. This shouldn’t affect regular photos and videos taken on the iPhone, but the lens arrangement will allow side-by-side lenses when recording in landscape mode—that’s the orientation you need to get stereoscopic video that would allow 3D playback on the Apple Vision Pro headset.”
(Forbes).
A long wait for Mac’s M4
Apple debuted the M4 chip in the iPad Pro last month. Apple’s M Series Silicon has appeared in the iPad Pro before, but is primarily seen as a Mac chip. And the Mac community will have to wait nearly six months before the M4 starts showing up on their Macs, MacBooks and iMacs:
“The entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro is expected to get an M4 chip, while the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will be updated with M4 Pro and M4 Max chips. The Mac mini will get M4 and M4 Pro chips MacBook Air models, Mac The Studio and Mac Pro won’t be updated with M4 chips until 2025, and it’s not yet clear when the iMac might see an update with the refreshed chip technology.
(MacRumors).
iPhone meets Mac
Apple’s new implementation of iPhone-to-Mac screen mirroring is now available through the iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia developer betas launched at last month’s WWDC. The full public release is expected in early October. In addition to sharing controls and digital real estate, mirroring brings the device’s file systems a little closer.
“Chief among more is a very cool feature where you can drag and drop files from your Mac to your iPhone, which is the ultimate in convenience. The connected Mac will display notifications from the iPhone on the Mac screen and when you click on the Mac screen, they will open on the screen.”
(Forbes).
Apple finds retail success
The latest report from Canalys looks at laptop and tablet sales over the last quarter, and Apple will be pleased with the positioning of the two form factors in the market:
“That means Apple had 14.2% of the desktop and notebook PC market this quarter. It shipped roughly 2,102,000 Macs, compared to 1,723,000 in the first quarter of 2023…. In total, Apple shipped 4,928,000 iPads in the quarter, up from 5,400 a year ago.00 However, the iPad remains dominant with 50.8% of the market.
(Apple Insider).
The latest EU App Store issues
Regulators in the EU have challenged Apple over the implementation of third-party app stores and the ability of developers to tell consumers about alternatives to Apple’s own store:
The tech giant has been given the opportunity to review the investigation’s preliminary findings and could avoid a monster fine if it comes back with a proposal that is satisfactory to the EU. The European Commission says developers should be able to freely tell customers when there are cheaper app stores beyond the one run by Apple.”
(BBC News).
And finally…
Apple’s push into AAA gaming has seen a handful of notable names come to the iPhone in the last year. Unfortunately, financial success has not followed their releases, as studies suggest that these titles have “bombed”:
“Assassin’s Creed Mirage was downloaded approximately 123,000 times as of June 6, Appfigures says. However, it has only managed $138,000 in gross revenue. The report believes that revenue level indicates that fewer than 3,000 people were willing to unlock the game complete at $49.99.”
(MobileGamer.biz via Apple Insider).
Apple Loop brings you seven days worth of highlights every weekend here at Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any future coverage. Last week’s Apple Loop can be read here, or this week’s edition of the Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.